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daredevil flying over, through buildings. it's in rio de janeiro, the gap between the buildings, 22 feet across. using middle earth. that's it for me. "the lead with jake tapper" starts now. man, i still got that new-set smell. i'm jake tapper, and this is "the lead." the national lead -- health crusader or meddling nanny? new york city michael bloomberg announced another controversial proposal, and he'll join us as our very first guest. the world lead, the president opens his arm to the president of zimbabwe. never mind he's accused of massacring his own people. i'll do my best to get stephen colbert to come out of his ironic bubble. >> you can be on it. >> no, i can't. i think that's a bad idea.

on camera. >> why? >> turn that off. >> my exclusive interview with the leader of "the colbert nation." the national lead -- he's the most powerful mayor in the nation and if michael bloomberg is starting to feel the limits of his reach, he's sure not showing it. today, he's going after one of his favorite target, big tobacco. he's announcing a new initiative to force stores to hide cigarettes, keeping them out of sight, and, he hopes, out of minds for new yorkers. my yore bloomberg also led the charge to keep his citizens from becoming those headless fat people in random news b-roll, but his recent attempt to ban the sale of sugary drinks over 16 ounces had people crying nanny state long before it hit a snag in court, and it made the big gulp the breakout star of this year's conservative political action conference. with some help from sarah palin. at a time when conservatives were looking for something to cheer about, this brought down the house at cpac.

>> oh, bloomberg's not around. our big gulp's safe. >> reporter: forget for a moment that 7-eleven big gulps are not actually included in new york city's ban on big, sugary drinks, a ban that a judge overturned before it was going into effect next week. the message to mayor bloomberg is career. you can have my soda when you pry it from my cold, dead, and possibly pudgy hands. >> i am overturning this -- >> reporter: it's not just conservatives. bloomberg has managed to do the impossible to get sarah palin and bill mahr to agree on something. >> there is something wrong about the seventh richest person in the world lying in bed saying, you know what, people shouldn't drink too much sprite. >> reporter: but mayor bloomberg seems unfazed, promising the fight is not over. >> we will appeal the judge's decision. we are confident we will win that. >> reporter: he's had success in legislating healthier lifestyles. pushing on a ban of smoking in

public places, trans fats, and made restaurants start posting the calorie counts. but this time, the mayor may have overreached. >> you don't have the right to tell me what i can and cannot drink. >> reporter: that woman is from mississippi, which is a long way from manhattan, but the state, which is the fattest in the nation -- congratulations -- just passed legislation which would forbid local authorities to require that restaurants post calorie counts on menus, or limit portion sizes. and in mississippi, they call it the anti-bloomberg bill. we're now joined by our inaugural guest for "the lead," new york city michael bloomberg. mr. mayor, thank you so much for joining us. >> well, jake, thank you for having me. i'm flattered to be your very first. you probably did it because you think it can only get better from here, but that's okay. >> let's start with your newest project, keeping tobacco products out of the sight of consumers at retail stores. you plan on introducing this to

the city council. tobacco, of course, is very deadly. it is perfectly legal. tell me about your goals for this. >> well, smoking is going to kill a billion people this century, around the world. and the tobacco companies target kids, and they target people in the less-developed countries and people who aren't as lucky as you and i who may be just starting out at the bottom of the economic ladder. what we're trying to do is to continue the record reduction in smoking. in new york city, we brought smoking among teenagers down from 18% to 8%, but the bad news is for the last three years, it sort of stagnated at that level. and smoking is going to kill these kids. it's going to leave them with not as a great career prospects you would like. not the education you like. as adults, they're very likely to smoke if they smoke as kid, and that will shorten their lives. so smoking is a very big deal. at the new york city ban

smoking, which we got a lot of grief about, i will say. i got a lot of one-fingered ways as i would describe them when i marched by bars on st. patrick's day, for example. today, marched by a bar in st. patrick's day, and everybody seems to love you. and because of what new york did, i think it's fair to say most cities in america, all of western europe, virtually all of latin america have now gone smoke-free. >> sir, i know you reject the "nanny" label. you consider yourself a health advocate. you heard in the piece that introduced you, there is something of a backlash to the oversized soda ban, or restriction. do you think that it's possible that your actions when it comes to oversized sodas, sugary drinks, have created a backlash that could end up ultimately hurting your cause? you see what's going on in mississippi, for example. >> oh, no, anything but -- jake, anything but the beverage companies can see that there's a train coming at them down the

tunnel. it's not the light at the end of the tunnel. obesity is going to kill more people than smoking this year in new york city. obesity, for the first time in the history of humanity, is -- the effects of overeating will till more people than starvation. and something like 60% of adults in some of our boroughs and 40% of the kids are overweight or obese across this country, across the world. obesity, unfortunately, partly because of american eating habits that have been exploited overseas, is really getting to be as bad as smoking. it isn't quite there yet, but it's heading in that direction. >> let's talk of gun control. you met with senator john mccain rece recently, and he after the meeting said you seemed to be focused more on pushing a nationwide background check system and not be so focused on the -- a ban on certain kinds of semiautomatic rifles. is that true? is that where you're going to focus your attention and your efforts? >> well, i don't know, just going to get me another

nanny-gate, another -- me dressed as mary poppins? i was asked this morning about that, and i said i sort of take that as -- with a measure of pride. i mean, don't we have a responsibility to try to do what's right for each other, and we're certainly doing that in new york city. but let me take a look at guns for you. this year in america, 12,000 people will be killed with handguns, 400 people will be killed with assault weapons or high-capacity magazines. so it is the vast bulk of the murders done with handguns. the numbers you were saying, sir, i thought you were going in a different direction. i thought you were suggesting that a ban on assault weapons, semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines would not do that much to reduce gun violence. i thought that's where you were going with the statistics you were listing. >> well, it would reduce -- let's say if you could get rid of all of them, which you can't, it would save 400 lives. but if you could keep guns out of the hands of minors, criminals, substance abuse, and

psychiatric problem people, you would make an enormous difference in terms of saving lives both in the number of murders and the number of suicides, because the vast bulk of both of those are done with handguns, not with assault weapons or high-capacity magazines. it's a good thing to get rid of them. they really don't belong on the streets. but your original statement that our focus is on background checks is true. >> lastly, sir, your super pac spent more than $2 million on a house race in chicago. you were successful. i guess two questions on that. one is, how is that spending any different from what conservatives, who are maligned for such activities, like the koch brothers, how is it any different from what they do? and is this the future of mike bloomberg after your mayoralty ends at the end of the year? is this where you are channelling your efforts and your money? >> well, i don't know what i'm

going to do in 288 days. i guess go out and look for a job. i work cheap. i get paid a dollar a year now. so salary's not going to be the problem. in terms of what we're doing versus the koch brothers, david koch, i know very well, he's very conservative, much more than i am. but david koch really believes, and he's trying to help to get the policies that he thinks would be better for society through. he's using his own money. i have no problems with what he's doing, and i'm sure he wouldn't have any problems with what i've done. >> new york city mayor michael bloomberg, thank you for your time and your views. >> jake, good luck on your show. in other national news, the verdict is in, but the sick online trolling continues in the steubenville, ohio, rape case. investigators are looking into death threats to the teenaged victim over twitter. over the weekend, the judge found 16-year-old ma'lik richmond and trent mays guilty in the case. both could be held in a juvenile jail until they are 21 years old. it's not as if we needed further proof of the cold,

calculating nature of newtown shooter adam lanza, and yet here it is. "the new york daily news" is saying he kept a spreadsheet with name, body counts used in previous mass shootings like an accountant going over inventory. they say it was seven feet long and four feet wide, so big that investigators needed a special printer. disturbing. if you're the type of person routing for cam and mitchell to get married on "modern family," you will like this. in a brand-new cnn poll we're releasing just this minute, cnn asked whether gay and lesbian marriages should be recognized, and most americans think they should. 53% to 44%. the poll comes just hours after a longtime holdout on this issue made her views known. former secretary of state hillary clinton, proclaiming her support for same-sex marriage in a video released by a leading gay and lesbian rights group. >> lgbt americans are our colleague, our teachers, our

soldiers, our friends, our loved ones. and they are full and equal citizens and deserve the rights of citizenship. that includes marriage. >> mrs. clinton's husband was the one who signed the defense of marriage act into law in 1996. that defined marriage as between one man and one woman. but just last week, former president bill clinton called for that law to be struck down. we'll have much more from our new cnn poll later in the show. they're potentially lifesaving ordeal, mammograms and prostate exams. i'll let you argue which one is worse and most uncomfortable amongst yourselves. if you said a mammogram, you're probably a woman. a new study out this afternoon claims getting a screening every two years is just as effective as getting one every year, at least for women ages 50 to 74. for women 40 to 49 should probably still schedule a mammogram annually. up next, the money lead. never been on a cruise? that does not mean you've never paid for one.

millions are spent rescuing broken-down ships, and u.s. taxpayers are picking up the tab. and later, a famous film about an infamous killer. but what fate befell baseball annie? stick around. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. i work for 47 different companies. well, technically i work for one. that company, the united states postal service®, works for thousands of home businesses.

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savings accounts of people who live there. that's right. they're actually taking the bailout money directly from people's bank accounts. of course, that sent folks running to their atms to withdraw their money, sparking a panic. now there's concern the same thing will happen in other parts of europe. and even though wall street is hanging tough, could the cyprus crisis impact us down the line? tom foreman has a fancy show-and-tell to help break it all down for us. tom, thanks for joining us. i understand why cypriots are worried, but why should americans be? >> because this can rattle your wallet. >> really? >> look at this over here. i start with the rhetorical question. what do shreveport, louisiana, knoxville, tennessee, have in common? they have bigger economies than cyprus. it has over a million people. gdp of about 24 billion. but this place is in big trouble right now, because of the issue of debt. what they have is a massive

debt. they're spending more than they have, so they're getting a bailout from the eu of about $13 billion. we're going to do this all in dollars, not euro, to keep it all clean here. so, of course, with the bailout comes, as we've seen with other nations, you s as you austerit measures. but the savings tax. essentially, a 6.75% tax on $131,000 and below. you get the picture. if you have $131,000 in the bank right now, and this thing gets approved tomorrow, if that happens, they would come in and take about $9,000 out of your account. even more if you have more. now, the plan is if you do this, you get shares of the bank, and then, jake, when everything gets fixed, theoretically, you get your money back and maybe some more. >> tom, you said cypriots. i said cyprus. >> we'll settle that later. >> thank you so much.

also leading money news, how bad are things for the ironically named carnival cruise lines? pretty bad. the company's latest troubled ship made it back to port without the toilets acting up, and that was the good news. the carnival legend arrived in tampa yesterday. passengers had a skip a stop in grand cayman and got a $100 refund. not a big deal, but the latest of pr icebergs for this company. here's the real doozy. when the cruise line gets in trouble, it's you who ends up getting soaked. "the lead's" erin mcpike is here with more. how is it the consumers get soaked? >> i learned there's one major cruise ship that flies an american flag. but so many of the others still need the u.s. coast guard to help them out. the carnival triumph. >> it's just been a horrible experience for us. >> reporter: the elation.

the dream. the legend. recently, the names of carnival ships haven't exactly matched the experiences on board. >> think about a good three-day cruise we had, and a bad four-day camping trip. >> reporter: who pays the bill when cruise ships need help, help that comes directly from the u.s. government? here's a hint. it's not the cruise line. >> most all of these cruise ships fly foreign flags, so you can't regular late them except the few hours they're here at your shores. they pick up the small amount of the responsibility, but not very much. the taxpayer ends up picking up most of it. they don't own up to their responsibilities. >> reporter: the coast guard spent $780,000 to help the triumph when it was stranded in the gulf of mexico a month ago. but that was minor compared to 2010 when the carnival splendor was stuck in the pacific. more than 3.4 million in taxpayer dollars went toward sending a u.s. aircraft carrier to help, but it turns out not only is carnival not paying the

bill for those rescues, they're barely paying taxes. senator john rockefeller started probing the issue last year after the costa concorde ya incident. >> their ships are registered in other countries where they can, you know, get cheaper labor and they pay no taxes in this country. >> reporter: by registering in panama and the u.k., carnival paid an effective tax rate in the united states of 1.1% between 2004 and 2011. >> when you're in a world of your own, you can do what you want, and that's exactly what they do. so they don't reimburse coast guard. they don't pay taxes, which would help, you know, for these 20 federal agencies, which are woeching over them in various ways, or whose services they use, or might use. they just decline to be moved by that. >> reporter: but rockefeller is trying to make them move, sending a letter last week to

carnival's ceo asking, "do you think the federal taxes carnival pays each year covers the cost of the federal services on which it relies?" carnival told us it's still reviewing the letter. carnival's broader defense is that most of its income comes from a number of places outside the united states and that it's almost impossible to pay the taxes from every country. the coast guard simply says protecting u.s. citizens is its mission and it doesn't ask for reimbursements to do a job it could do anyway. as for senator rockefeller, his office told me today they're exploring ways to force international safety standards to avoid costly disasters like these in the first place. >> erin, thank you so much. still ahead in the pop culture lead, i'm sure you haven't noticed, but i'm sure you noticed i'm new to the whole anchoring news thing. so i went to a pro for a little advice. >> i want you to lead. >> it is? >> "the lead." >> i thought it might be called "the led."

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now to the buried lead. this is where we put stories that we think have not gotten the attention they deserve. don't get thrown by the word buried in the title. the stories will not always be about death. but our first one is. the story involves a woman named ruth ann steinhagen, a groupie gone mad, who in the 1940s shot a promising baseball player. well, if that story sounds familiar, queue the music. ♪

this iconic moment in movie history would not have been possible without the woman the papers called "baseball an" one of the first noteworthy sports stalkers, one of the first to put the fan in fanatic. >> would you come watch me play some time? >> oh, roy, you are priceless. >> reporter: she w played by barbara hershey in "the natural" starring robert redford as the object of her fixation. her story was once splashed across the tabloids, but her recent death was a mere blip on the news radar. still, her unsettling tale lives on. >> we'll be talking about today for years to come. >> reporter: in 1949, the 19-year-old chicago cubs fan lured a baseball player into a hotel room with a fateful note. and then -- [ gunshot ] -- she shot him in the chest, nearly killing him, as the movie depictures. that ballplayer in real life was phillies' first baseman eddie

waitkus, a former cubby. her bedroom was a shrine to waitkus, an obsession that started at age 16. as for portrayed in the movie, loosely based on the real story, waitkus endured several surgeries and would return to the biggs the next year. but steinhagen was ruled insane, and she was never tried for the shooting. she was ultimately forgotten, and news just broke now that she died nearly three months ago. her identity, even reportedly a shock to morgue workers, who knew her story from the iconic film decades ago. >> i could have broke every record in the books. >> ruth ann steinhagen was 83 years old, and, of course, she never lived to see her beloved cubs to win a world series, or even make another world series. the last time they won the pennant was in 1945. speaking of stalking, let's get a sneak peek at the all-republican panel waiting in

the green room. we're watching them. we'll ask them if it's possible for the republican party to change its party without selling its soul. stick around for the "politics lead." [ male announcer ] it's red lobster's lobsterfest

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welcome back to "the lead," i'm jake tapper. the "politics lead," it's a race to the bottom in popularity between president obama and the republican party. you won't believe the results of our brand-new cnn poll. the "sports lead." in the middle of the hottest streak of his career, king james takes a moment to go one on one with us. in the "pop lead," stephen colbert endorses his sister for congress and "the lead" for your viewing pleasure. >> i do have advice for you. >> okay. >> i have been waiting for jake tapper -- i've been waiting for the world to hip themselves to jake tapper for years.

>> a warm welcome from tv's leading fake news pundit. we begin with our worldly, accused of being one of africa's most brutal tyrants, even ordering genocide against his own people. you can imagine many are shocked at the news that zimbabwe's president slipped into italy today for tomorrow's installation of pope francis. despite the eu ban, the vatican has not broken off diplomatic relations with zimbabwe. he also attended the funeral of pope john paul ii and beatification ceremonies in 2011, despite being accused of ordering the torture, beating, maiming, and poisoning of thousands. the vatican says no country, including zimbabwe, get a formal invite, but all nations were informed the event is taking place. it was hard to imagine the situation in syria could get worse, but then it did. within the past hour, there have

been reports at the only presidential palace. and earlier today, the state department confirmed the syrian regeem is using fighter jets to fire rockets into neighboring lebanon. while there have not been any reports of injuries, it does raise concerns that the violence could spread throughout the region. u.s. allies like britain and france are signaling they want to lift an arms embargo in order to start arming the rebels to fight the regime, and today, secretary of state john kerry said the u.s. will not change in their way. the change of heart is likely linked to concerns that jihadists supporting the regime could get too powerful. the israeli army had stare-down dictators, but now is going up against an unlikely, all-powerful force, a supermodel. the times of israel reports the israeli defense forces want her removed from a series of pro-israel ads. that's because she's been accused of getting married in order to avoid military service so she can pursue her modelling career. the israeli foreign ministry is behind the ads, which is

supposed to help boost the country's image around the world. as for her response to the controversy, she said, quote, you can use the clip for the foreign morn industry or drop it, but my instagram feed has more readers than israel's most popular newspaper. dissing their readership bar? not kosher. in the pop culture lead, forget oz, it's the great and powerful james franco ruling the box office. franco's $215 million blockbuster "oz the great and powerful" scored the top spot for the second week in a row, but another flick starring franco made a much bigger splash than expected. "spring breakers" raked in $270,000, despite opening in only three theaters. the movie, which features vanessa hugens and selena gomez running around in bikinis opens nationwide next week. sounds fantastic. also, it takes real talent for a fake anchorman to care about the

new, yet stephen colbert pulls it off with ease. these days when he's not playing the part of a pundit, he's helping his sister enter the same world that's always at the butt of his jokes, politics. with a screeching eagle. and a cocked brow. "colbert report" on comedy central has resonated with audiences for nine seasons and counting. >> stephen! stephen! stephen! >> reporter: the one-time protege of "the daily show's jon stewart" has his own wax figure, a painting at the portrait gallery and, oh, yes, a few peabody awards. >> i'm enormous. am i still? >> yes. you couldn't be bigger. and now, stephen colbert is breaking character to dip his toe into real politics, supporting his sister elizabeth, who works in business development at clemson university and is running for congress as a democrat in their home state of south carolina. this was the first actual election you actually got

involved in? >> yeah, yeah, this is the first one. >> reporter: i don't think anyone would begrudge you -- >> for my sister. >> reporter: trying to help your sister. >> exactly. she's my sister, and i'm willing to, you know, break the jewel of my own creation to try to do something for her. like, i'm not worried what it would do to me or my show to try to help her as myself, not as my character, and to help her as myself. you know, if people think that's not the right thing for me to do, i don't care. it's my sister and i'm willing to help her. >> reporter: you think she'd be a good public servant? >> i've met these people. and my sister, she's in the top decile. >> reporter: if she wins tomorrow's primary, her republican opponent could very well be former governor marc sanford who resigned amid scandal in 2009. >> the bottom line is this. i've been unfaithful to my wife. >> reporter: mark sanford is favored. >> the former governor of the appalachian trail. >> reporter: yes, is favored. does this put you in a position where you feel like it is an

irresistible comedy object running against your sister -- >> yeah. >> reporter: -- i mean is there -- >> i will make jokes about him. i said if you do something funny, i'm making jokes about you. >> reporter: but you won't. >> yeah, sure she will. she's now a politician. >> reporter: right. >> of course, she will. she's perfectly human. >> reporter: of course, political error is colbert's bread and butter. the comedian's faux shtick is the longest running comedy on tv. >> i've had it with the super pacs. >> reporter: he even launched his own super pac to mock big-money politics. how much did you ultimately raise? >> $1.2 million, something. $1.2 million. >> reporter: people actually gave you that money? >> yeah, 30,000 people. over 35,000 people donated. >> reporter: i'm not if that reassures me or makes me terrified. >> it surprised me. i'm doing it! >> reporter: it also confirmed that colbert can be successful

at almost anything. i first met colbert on the campaign trail in 2004, and i took him as my date to the white house correspondents dinner the next year. here's my memory of that. you get up, about 45 minutes later you came back. >> yes. >> reporter: you said, i just made a deal to have my own show. >> yes. i told you what it was. rsht you told me. >> you said it was a terrible idea. >> reporter: i said i loved you as a correspondent. >> you kind of put water on it. >> reporter: i was worried about it. >> you were. i remember -- >> reporter: yeah, hey, what? clearly i was wrong. from one anchorman to another, i asked for his guidance. >> here's my advice for you, and a wise man once said do the stories you care about. >> reporter: right. >> don't get sucked up in that whole news thing. i can't give you any advice. you're an actual newsman. >> reporter: right. >> you know things about your business. i can't give you -- you do a comedy show, i could give you advice. >> reporter: i'm not going to be

doing a comedy show. >> we'll see. >> reporter: do you have the same misgivings about me that i had with you? >> no. no. >> reporter: you can be honest. >> no. i can't. i think that's a bad idea on camera. it's going to be huge. >> reporter: thank you. >> again, the name of it is? >> reporter: "the lead." >> "the lead." >> reporter: it's called "the lead." >> it is? i wasn't sure. i thought it might be called "the led." because you've got so much gravitas. you have to be the heavy one anchoring it, and if it doesn't work out, it's, like, wahh, sink right to the bottom. >> reporter: yeah. that's a nice image and i appreciate it. >> you're welcome. >> hash tag, you're it. i asked stephen colbert advice for anchoring on the show, and i want to hear from you. what tips do you have for me? tweet your ideas to me@theleadcnn and use posting

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the politics lead. it's not what you say, it's how you say it. that might be a bottom line out of today's republican autopsy report. >> i think that we have to have a party that says, look, if you want to support our party, then you want to walk through that door, i don't need to agree with you on every single issue. i think that we had some by logically stupid things that were said in the last election that make it more difficult for us to make that case. >> they're still feeling the damage. a new cnn poll out this hour shows more than half of american

voters have an unfavorable opinion of the republican party. here to talk about this is kristen, the vice president of the winston group. jim gehrty from the national review and tim phillips, president for americans for american prosperity. thank you so much for being here for our inaugural voyage. so, tim, mr. priebus said earlier today that if you're my 80% friend, you're not my 20% enemy, or something along those lines. basically saying the party needed to be more inclusive. i have some conservative friends, very conservative friends, who call people like that squish. that person's a squish. you've heard this term many times, i'm sure. >> i have. >> so is this the future of the republican party, squish, or no? >> i don't think so. it's not as if -- they talk about a couple of guys that made stupid comment, which they did, absolutely disqualified themselves from races. there were people who were perfectly good candidates who were, frankly, more moderate in places like montana and north

dakota, virginia, who lost and lost badly. they didn't lose because they said stupid things. >> yeah, they -- >> right. they lost because they ran poor campaigns, but also, their messages weren't that compelling. >> what'd you think of today's announcement? >> it's going to do a lot of good on the margin. but in the end, a party rises and falls based on its candidates. you can have the best party apparatus in the world. if you have a candidate who pulls an aiken or does something biologically stupid, as the chairman put today. if you have a great candidate, you're okay with the party apparatus that's not quite cooking on all four burners, so to speak. >> do you think a different candidate could have won last year? >> oh, definitely. >> you think so? >> well, i think -- it's not just a different candidate. it's not about the person, but about the message they're driving. it's about the policies and the way they talk about them. so, for instance, mitt romney had this very big focus on the economy, but for the average american, it was tough to see how mitt romney's economic policies would make their lives any better off.

i think that's the challenge republicans want to face if they want to be competitive. >> tim, some people would say americans for prosperity is part of the problem. >> not me. . who would say that? >> some people would say that requiring a strict orthodoxy when it comes to no tax increases, that's part of the problem. what's your response? >> in fact, a vibrant, growing, strong movement is a recipe for a party's success, and that movement is outside the party. the democratic party is not that strong. it was the obama campaign, it was george sorros in 2002, 2004. a lot of movement groups on the left that dragged the democrat party along with their energy, with the movement's energy. so i think a strong movement is a good thing. frankly, a not-so-strong party is a good thing. the democrat party is not that strong. it's about the movement, pulling them along. i think that's what we have on our side. >> tim, just on that point, let's put the numbers in context. abysmal numbers. president obama is not doing so great. a new cnn poll has him at just 47% approval rating. that's down eight points since january.

i do think, though, any strategist would say the republican party right now has a steeper hill to climb. as a republican, as a republican pollster, how freaked out are you right now? >> you know, i've seen some bad numbers before. you know, i feel like seeing bad numbers now, it's not freaking me any more now than it was before the election. what makes me excited -- >> i assume you were freaking out a lot before the election. >> i have been freaking out the last four years about the republican party's performance with groups, for instance, like young voters, the latino community. the numbers have been grim for republicans for not just the last few weeks or months, but for years with these groups. i think the stuff you saw in the report today is going to beg begin -- not completely win the conversation bush but begin the conversation of trying to win these voters that are young, that are not white, that republicans have done poorly with in the past. >> tim, i want to ask you about something. a lot of conservatives, one of the issues they have with today's announcement, is mr. priebus and others in the republican autopsy review board

announced that they thought the primary process should be shorter. there should be fewer debates. >> mm-hmm. >> and a lot of conservatives are saying, you're just trying to ram another squish through the general election -- through the primary process. >> yes. >> and not give the candidates room to compete. >> if the report had been one page, and it had said don't nominate a squish, there would still be those accusations from the grassroots of the rnc. someone contractually obligated to cover the debate, i think it's great to reduce the number. we had 23 the last time. and we need six or seven. most of the guys have everything they have had to say. when you have 20 or so, it dilutes the value of each one of them. you start getting the same old talking points over and over gun. and frankly, we had folks up on the stage not seriously running for president. they were running for book deals, running for tv gigs, you know, raise their name identification and to make themselves -- they're running for president of factions of the party instead of being the president of the united states. >> all right. we'll have to leave it there. to be continued. much to discuss.

is wolf blitzer around here somewhere? i thought i heard that guy. >> i'm here. >> hey, wolf. >> welcome. >> thankou so much for coming. wolf, as you may or may not -- "the situation room" is right over there. we're neighbors. and he's constantly banging his shoe on the wall and telling me to keep it down. keep it down. you have a big guest coming up. >> yeah, "the situation room." >> i'm not in "the situation room." this is no longer -- i apologize. i now have -- >> you guys will be in the "the situation room." >> you have a big guest coming up. >> reince priebus. trying to narrow the gap. the young people, what was the gap among young voters? >> 23 points. >> yeah, that's a lot of gap. >> that's not good. >> we'll talk to reince priebus about that. we have a lot of other stuff in the "the situation room." maybe you'll join me in "the situation room." >> how could i turn you down? i'm live on television. >> you will. >> thank you so much. i appreciate it. what do you think of the show so far? >> great stuff. >> great guests. >> let me say, usually in sports, when you're close to

breaking a record, you don't talk about it. i guess nobody told lebron james, because we have him one on one, and that is our "sports lead. "and that is next. all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers.

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the "sports lead," sorry heat laters, but it might be time to bow down and accept his image industry. the heat tied the second-longest winning streak in nba history by beating up on the toronto raptors yesterday, and it was, who else, but king james, mr. lebron, leading the way. rachel mcnichols had the chance to go one on one. rachel, is he going with the company line that the heat doesn't care as much about the streak as the rest of us do? >> the company line is they're taking it one game at a time. normal cliches. they're not focused on the streak. in fact, their coach doesn't talk about it. it's like a no-hitter, right? >> right. >> i will say that once we got him one on one after the game in toronto where they extended that streak, he did open up a little bit about how much it means to him.

when you look at the historical context of what you guys are doing, what do you think? >> it's special. you know, we don't talk about it. we're just living in it, living in the moment. but it's special. you know, i know the history of the game. we have guys that have great basketball iq, know the history of the game. to be in the class right now with some of the greatest teams that have ever played, as far as consecutive wins, it's very special. >> with this win in toronto, there's now only one team that's had a streech that's more games than you guys, and that was back in 1972, the lakers. >> right. >> more than 40 years ago. >> right. >> what do you think about it -- by the way, your team president, pat riley, was on that team. you give a little bit -- >> yeah, i heard they averaged 113 points that year. he averaged about six-point -- six points, seven points, so he had a little contribution to the streak. >> little. emphasis on the little. >> a little, a lot. i think it's crazy to -- you said 1972. you know, and 40 years later,

we're playing the game of basketball, to have so many players, so many teams to come through the years, to be sitting here tied for second place, awesome. >> the teams, the people would say you have to have your nose to the grindstone to have this kind of streak. but you guys in the stretch, you had a super bowl outing, the sports bar, you went costume shopping, the harlem shake video on youtube. are you doing this in spite of having fun, or because you're having fun? >> i think because we enjoy each other. we genuinely enjoy each other, being around each other each and every day. it makes the game that much easier. as you see out on the floor, we have a free mind. we play -- no egos. guys go out there and play for one another, and at the end of the day, all we want to do is win. >> next up is boston. paul pearce said a couple of daysing a, i hope they use the rest of the games for the entire season. no love lost there. what do you think of the statement? >> i'm not surprised. i mean, it's really -- it's not news really to me. what is he supposed to say?

i mean, first of all, it's a rival of ours. second of all, it's not, you know, his team that's doing it. you know, i would probably feel the same way. hey, i don't want them to win anymore. i don't expect nothing less out of paul. he's a great competitor. you know, that's fine and dandy. we look forward to the game. >> the streak continues. thank you very much. >> thanks, rachel. >> so that game in boston is tonight. rachel, this is a huge, huge rivalry. a lot of people are predicting this is where the streak could end. is it possible, though, they will be able to keep it going? how hard will it be? >> yeah, look, this is not easy. the fact that it has been 40 years -- more -- since the lakers set that number, tells you no one's even gotten close. so this is not something that is a give-me or a lock by any means, but they have survived tough tenas already. they made last-second clutch shots, sush vieved an overtime game, and they're getting this huge contribution from lebron james. you saw him tweak pat riley a little bit in that interview. he's averaging 25, 26 points a

game during this streak. pat riley, of course, the nba legend from the heat, you know, he was a patient player on the laker team. six points, eight points a game, as lebron so quickly pointed out. he's doing a little more than his boss. so riley has a lot more wings. >> and after boston, assuming they keep going, they go to cleveland where they're not exactly cheering for lebron these days. did you talk to him about that? is he dreading going back? >> you know, we talked -- it's so interesting because, of course, we remember a couple of years ago, people in cleveland burning his jersey, and then the first time he did go back there, we saw food, and really throughout the game. nobody gave him a break. things have definitely changed in the state of ohio. they're still lebron james haters, but there are also a lot of people looking at the fact that lebron has the chance to opt out of his contract in a year and a half, and he's made hints that he would at least consider going back to cleveland, and there are people in ohio who want him